Cummins rejects Khawaja's ball-tampering claims as "complete nonsense"

Australia Test captain Pat Cummins has rejected the claims of his former teammate Usman Khawaja, calling them "complete nonsense". The retired player wrote in his new book, "Sabr", that the entire team was aware of the ball-tampering plan carried out on the 2018 tour of South Africa.

Khawaja's book has resurfaced following the incident in Cape Town in 2018, when Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper on the field. After the incident, only Bancroft, then captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were punished. The other players and the coaching staff maintained that they had no knowledge of it.

Cummins was a young player in that match, playing his 13th Test. In 2021, he issued a joint statement with Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon saying they had not known that foreign material had been introduced onto the field. Cummins responded to the issue again at a press conference in Sydney on Friday morning, which he announced via social media. Saying he did not know sandpaper had been taken onto the field, Cummins stated that Khawaja portrayed him and the others as the architects of the plan. Warner had earlier said the account in the book was "100 percent accurate".

Cummins was appointed Australia captain in November 2021. He accused Khawaja of being "indifferent" to his former teammates and to the lives of Australian cricket. Saying they are friends, Cummins said friends should not play with each other's lives and reputations.